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On Saturday night, Rachal and I attended a Valentines dance at the Intercontinental Hotel in Addison. The buffet was excellent, and because of the sixties-music theme, I think we may have been the youngest couple in the room.

However, we were *not* the most energetic couple in the room: the pair that won the Twist contest also came in second place for "most years married", in that they'd been wed in 1969, shortly before my birth. They cut up that dance floor, Gentle Readers, looking like Buddy Hackett and Billie Hayes on amphetamines... and it warmed my heart to see it.

We stayed for a couple of hours, then left before the music volume diminished our enjoyment.

I can't recall Rachal and I actually dancing together since our wedding, and we were pretty clumsy at it, but had a good time :>

Okay, here's a holiday update, with an egg-on-my-face story that amused me perhaps more than it should have.

I'm typing this from my mother's house in Idaho; we're here for twelve days to sort of make up for not visiting last year :>
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Quick update:

Went to Florida. Had a lovely time at Universal Studios -- the 3-d Terminator attraction holds up quite well! -- and Rachal had a pretty good time with our patroness neighbor staying on at Disney. (And although she spent about 30% of the time holed up in the hotel room with a migraine, Rachal had a better time than she had feared she might).

Got back from Florida ...and was put on part time at work. (Money crunch). My boss hired someone cheaper than me to fill in doing some of the stuff I don't like to do, and suggested (a while back, with my blessing) that I look for other things to fill my time and bank account.

After a week, fill-in person quit, which puts me back to full-time... nearly, and for the moment, since business is improving, kinda.

Won tickets to the "Walk with the Dinosaurs" animatronic show at the American Airlines Center. Lost tickets ...fifteen minutes before showtime, somewhere between confirming they were in my pocket after dinner and sitting down in the car. Went home to watch TV instead, after repeatedly tossing the car and retracing my steps. Was very glad I hadn't spent my own money; was VERY VERY glad we hadn't wound up trying to take the seven-year-old daughter of my boss along with us.

Things are going pretty well. Although we've employed several of our safety nets lately, I'm aware that many people don't have them to employ, and am quite grateful. Rachal's more mobile and more clear-headed than she has been in the past, and I'm looking forward to the new year.

It's not that the pun below is world-class, or anything -- what I like about it is that I came up with it *while dreaming*, and was amused with myself before I woke up. Not too bad for REM sleep...

In my dream, Albus Dumbledore was producing an enormous batch of tea for some potion or another, using several teapots bigger than my head. I strung some tubing from one pot to the next, fussily explaining to Dumbledore that the angle of the tube was critical, and that he "shouldn't steep it too much".

I bet if someone had told Michael Jackson ten years ago that he'd outlive Farrah Fawcett, he'd have been ecstatic at the news.

Because a perfectly flat roller coaster would be boring...
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For the first spinal tap story, we have the results of the lumbar puncture done to greenlight Rachal for her eye surgery. (Her eyes are still pointing away from each other, to about the same degree). The lumbar puncture showed that her spinal fluid pressure was not high ...but analysis of the spinal fluid itself was suggestive of ...wait for it... multiple sclerosis. Let me rush to say that it's unlikely she has MS, and if she does it's likely a low-grade version ...and even then, that would give us another potentially productive list of things to do, as opposed to having some symptoms for which (right now) we have no real source. So it's not entirely bad news any way I look at it, except for the part where Rachal's eye surgery is indefinitely postponed until she's diagnosed one way or the other.

The second story is more amusing -- and reminded me of _Spinal Tap_, the movie. I recently ordered some white vinyl cut in the shape of my company's logo -- one set, two feet wide, to fit on our door ...the other, three feet wide, to fit on our front window. The salesdroid I spoke to invoiced me correctly, and was told to proceed. Yesterday, I got a UPS letter envelope, with some wax paper rolled up inside. Taped to that was two sets of my company's logo ...one two inches wide, and one three inches wide. I think they'll fit nicely on my boss's dog-carrier.

Also, I spent a few hours over the weekend (when I wasn't at the office) helping a buddy (and ex-boss) flog his wares at a booth in the Dallas Guitar Show. He's trying to start a line of high-end wooden furniture for use by professional musicians, and you may take a gander at his pride and joy here: www.guitarfurniture.com

That guitar stand's disassembly is pretty slick, and I don't wanna know how many times I took it apart and put it back together Saturday, all in the name of catching the eyes of the folks wandering through the show. I resisted the urge to throw my hands in the air and shout "Time!" on each repetition, at least. Well, mostly.

I asked twfarlan to list five things he associates with me, which I shall bloviate about below. Let me know, Gentle Reader, if you want me to give you five topics that remind me of you to expound upon in your own journal.
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I'm posting this more for the record than to put up the CEPT bat-signal, or anything.

Rachal was so nauseous going into Saturday that she couldn't keep anything down, and she therefore couldn't stop her blood sugar from dropping. We took her to the ER for some IV assistance, and she's been there for the last two nights, sleeping a lot. (They put her on an antibiotic. She's been on Enbrel for about a year for her psoriasis and arthritis, and Enbrel reduces the effectiveness of her immune system).

She hasn't been in any danger that I'm aware of, and has been a lot more comfortable since about two hours after we checked her in. So I'm not worried, and should be bringing her home today.

On the plus side, Rachal's insurance deductible for the year has been well and truly addressed, and it ain't even Valentine's day! Woo-hoo; all-we-can-eat recreational hospital visits for the rest of the year! Or something... :/

I got a kick out of the look on Yo-Yo Ma's face while he was playing. Grinning from ear to ear, he was.

I'm thinking about making another LJ icon, with some picture of Barack Obama looking the most like Sidney Poitier that I can find, and the caption: "They call me *Mister President*!"